How to get a guest spot on a podcast

Finding a guest spot on a podcast depends on three main areas: preparing your materials, finding the right podcasts, and finally, pitching yourself to the podcast. You have to do the first two areas before you can continue and pitch yourself.

Let’s take a closer look at all three.

Preparing your materials

The first thing to do is material preparation. These are the texts, visuals, previous podcast appearances, and other relevant content you send to podcasts you want a guest spot on. As preparation, the most important thing for you to do is to figure out your unique ideas and opinions on a subject you know a lot about.

An example

I’m a designer by trade, for example. I’d look at what other designers within my network (or on podcasts) are talking about. There’s a lot of talk about design craft and how important it is to create something as good-looking as possible.

While I agree with the sentiment, I would probably be unable to find a guest spot on a podcast if I talk about that, too.

It is far more likely that I will be invited if I talk about something else. I could, for example, discuss design in a specific niche (SaaS) or from a different angle (strategic design). These would set me apart from the more common design craft talk.

Texts, visuals, and more

The above is your way in. But you need to be able to show it. That’s where your texts and visuals come in. Create a deck of previous podcast appearances (if you have them), why you’d be perfect for an appearance, and a list of articles or videos where you talk about your expertise on the subject.

Finding the right podcast

Once you know your unique angle and have collected your materials, it is time to find the right podcast. Like any good relationship, the connection has to go both ways.

This means appearing on the podcast should both benefit you and the podcast itself.

An example

I’ve been lucky enough to have had a guest spot on Arvid Kahl’s The Bootstrapped Founder podcast. Now, about a year later, I still get messages from people telling me they’ve listened to our episode. That’s great for my reach.

At the same time, our connection and the design-for-SaaS angle we discussed resonated well with his audience. It was a very enjoyable episode (if I may say so myself).

Use Podscan to search for relevant podcasts

One of Podscan’s main features is its ability to search across millions of live podcast episodes. You can search, for example, for specific keywords.

• If you are an author looking to promote a new book on social media ads, search for keywords around ROAS, Meta Business Manager, or just literally ‘social media ads.’
• If you’re an expert on a software tool like DaVinci Resolve, you can search for ‘video editing’ or ‘DaVinci vs. Premiere.’
• If you run a SaaS that helps people save time with their commute, search for WFH (work from home), RTO (return to office), or ‘rush hour traffic jams.’

As you can see, each scenario has a mix of literal keywords and a few long-tail keywords. The latter helps search for context, like problems your SaaS solves or main ideas from your upcoming book.

Podscan has a useful set of tools to help you sort through the search results. You can use context-aware questioning to analyze episodes, but you can also see if a show you find interesting allows guest appearances and what its ratings are on large podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

These factors help you find relevant podcasts to appear on. If a particular show accepts guests, talks about your main topic, and complies with your review standards, it is time to reach out.

Pitch yourself to a podcast

It is time to reach out to a podcast you’ve found during the steps above. You have your materials completed, and you’re ready to go. But how do you pitch yourself?

First of all, Podscan has the means to reach out to podcasts. Each show has an e-mail address and website you can click on. Sending an e-mail is a bold, direct approach that will work if done right. It requires a short, to-the-point mail where you present yourself as a potential guest. Here’s a list of things to keep in mind.

Your pitch isn’t about you

The most important thing to remember is that you pitch yourself as a benefit to the podcast. Don’t sell yourself. Sell the extra reach, unique insights, and social media chatter that will happen after you appear on a podcast.

Short and sweet

People are busy. They don’t want to read long e-mails (or any e-mails in some cases…). That’s why a short e-mail will increase your chances of a ‘conversion.’

In this case, a conversion means the podcast host replies back to you. Mention your interest in making a guest appearance on the podcast, introduce yourself, and briefly mention the unique angle and ideas you have for the show.

I wouldn’t add visuals and a pitch deck just now. That’s quite a big step to take on the first e-mail. You can, however, add your social media links to the signature of your e-mail. If the podcast host is interested, they will likely click on those links to better understand who you are and what you talk about.

How to handle follow-ups

It could happen that you will not get a response. That doesn’t mean the podcast host isn’t interested. Maybe they forgot to reply, or your message got lost somewhere in a crowded inbox. That can happen to all of us. Send another e-mail just over a week later. Stay friendly and use complete sentences.

I receive a lot of cold messages every month, and the amount of ‘bro’, ‘yo’, and ‘dude’ used in the messages is astonishing. You can stand out simply by being friendly and professional. Use it to your advantage!

Closing thoughts

The most challenging part of finding a guest spot on a podcast is finding clarity among the enormous number of podcasts available today. Getting your materials in order isn’t that hard. Once you’ve got the first 90% of the version ready, it is only a matter of fine-tuning every now and then.

The biggest challenge by far is the search and networking. It usually takes a while to fully understand if a particular podcast is a good fit for you. Podscan helps a lot with the first step. I use Podscan to scout and scan. Once I get a ‘hit,’ I start to listen to the show and see if I’m still following along a few weeks later. If so, it means I enjoy listening to the hosts and guests, which means there’s a much bigger chance of a match.

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